PASSIVE HEATING

What is Passive Heating?

Passive heating :

-refers to technologies or design features used to heat buildings

without power consumption.
-building design attempts to integrate the principles of physics
into building exterior envelope to:
*speed up heat transfer into a building
5 elements of Passive Solar Heating:
 Aperture- the large glass area, usually a window, through which
sunlight enters the building. Typically, the aperture faces within 30
degrees of true south and should avoid being shaded by other buildings
or trees between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day during the heating session

 Absorber- a hard, darkened surface of the storage element, is the

second element of the design. The surface sits in the direct path of the
sunlight, which hits the surface and is absorbed as heat

 Thermal mass-the materials that retain or store the heat produced by

the sunlight. Unlike the absorber, which is in the direct path of the
sunlight, the thermal mass is the material below or behind the absorber’s
surface
5 elements of Passive Solar Heating:
 Distribution- the method by which solar heat circulates from the
collection and storage points to the different areas of the house.

 Control- During the summer months, roof overhangs are used to shade
the aperture. Other elements can be used to control the under- and/or
overheating include electronic sensing devices, operable vents and
dampers, low-emissivity blinds.
Some concepts to help you achieve passive
heating:

Direct Solar Gain

 Direct Gain is a system generally
used in cold climates.
 Sunlight admitted into the living spaces
through openings or windows heats the
walls and floors which store and
transmit the heat to the indoors.
 Suitable overhangs for shading and
openable windows for ventilation must
also be provided to avoid overheating in
the summer.
Massing & Orientation for Heating

Massing and orientation are important design factors to consider for

passive heating. Consider these factors early in the design so that the
surface areas exposed to sun at different times of day, building
dimensions, and building orientation can all be optimized for passive
comfort.
 Thermal Mass

Thermal mass is a material's resistance to change in

temperature. Objects with high thermal mass absorb and retain
heat. Thermal mass is crucial to good passive solar heating design,
especially in locations that have large swings of temperature from day to
night.
Trombe Wall
 A Trombe wall is a system for
indirect solar heat gain that is a
good example of thermal mass,
solar gain, and glazing properties
used together to achieve human
comfort goals passively. It
consists of a dark colored wall of
high thermal mass facing the sun,
with glazing spaced in front to
leave a small air space.
Trombe Wall
 Trombe Wall
 A Trombe wall is a south-facing masonry wall covered with glass
spaced a few inches away.
 Sunlight passes through the glass and is absorbed and stored by the
wall.
 The wall has vents provided at both upper and lower parts for air
circulation.
 The glass and airspace keep the heat from radiating back to the
outside.
 Heat is transferred by conduction as the masonry surface warms up,
and is slowly delivered to the building some hours later.

Trombe walls can provide carefully controlled solar heat to a space

without the use of windows and direct sunlight, thus avoiding
potential problems from glare and overheating,
Apertures for Heating
 Windows and other apertures
bring in heat from sunshine, but
can also lose heat by radiant
cooling and by conducting heat
better than most wall or roof
constructions. Apertures and
shading must be intelligently
placed to take advantage of the
sun's heat in cold locations and
seasons, while not overheating
in hot seasons.
 Water Wall
 Water walls are based on the same
principle as that of the Trombe wall,
except that they employ water as the
thermal storage material.
 Water walls can store more heat than
concrete walls because of the higher
specific heat.
 A water wall is a thermal storage
wallmade up of drums of water stacked
up behind glazing.
 It is painted black externally to increase
the absorption of radiation. The internal
surface can be painted with any other
colour and can be in contact with the
interior space directly, or separated by a
thin concrete wall or insulating layer.
Variations and controls:
A large storage volume provides longer and greater storage capacity, while smaller units
enable faster
distribution. In order to fix the quantity of water, the thumb rule is usually taken as 150
litres of water per
square metre of south oriented water wall. A variety of containers like tin cans, bottles,
tubes, bins, barrels,
drums, etc., provide different heat exchange surfaces to the storage mass ratio. Care should
be taken to
ensure that steel and metal containers are lined with corrosion resistant materials. Also, the
water should
be treated with algae retardant chemicals. Troughs should be provided as a precaution
against leakage of
water from containers or from condensation.
Heat transfer through a water wall is much faster than through a Trombe wall. So a control
on the
distribution of heat is needed, if it (heat) is not immediately necessary for the building. This
can be effected
by using a thin concrete layer or insulating layer, or by providing air circulation through
vents. Buildings like
schools or government offices which work during the day, benefit from the rapid heat
transfer in water
walls. To reduce heat losses, the glazing of the water wall is usually covered with insulation
at night.
Overheating during summer may be prevented by using movable overhangs
Solarium
 Sunspaces or solariums are essentially used for passive heating purposes
in cold climates.
 An integration of the direct gain and thermal storage concepts is
achieved in this approach.
 Solar radiation admitted directly into the sunspace heats up the air,
which by convection and conduction through the mass wall reaches the
living space.
 It consists essentially of a sunspace or a green house constructed on the
south side.
Transwall
 Transwall is a heat storage wall that is semitransparent in nature.
 It consists of a container made of parallel glass walls with a partially
absorbing plate at the centre and water or any other liquid on both sides of
the plate.
 It absorbs a part of the sun's radiations falling on it and transmits the rest.
 The transmitted radiation directly heats and lights the building while the
absorbed heat is transferred into the living space.